Year 4

Welcome to Year 4! In Year 4, children will be in Oak, Elm and Yew and taught by Mrs Reese, Miss Morris and Miss Moffat. This year pupils will be enjoying a great variety of subjects, and learning about current topics such as the human impact on the environment and coding!

Below you will find information pertaining to the class, as well as termly updates as to how we're getting on, with photos and examples of work.

Important Information

Our school day ends at 3:25 and are dismissed from the playground gate. A teacher is always available at the gate if there are any queries at the end of the day.

Year 4 pupils normally do P.E. on a Monday and Tuesday; if their P.E. kit is dirty pupils should take their kit home on a Friday and return it to school by the following Monday as sometimes it will be on different days of the week. Children with long hair should tie their hair back in P.E. lessons and not wear jewellery to avoid accidents. Please ensure your child has appropriate footwear for P.E. and warm clothing in winter.

Spellings

Pupils will receive their spellings to practise at home on a Friday and will be tested the following Thursday. Spellings will be read out as part of a Dictation so that pupils can recognise how the context of the words they have learnt. Dictations and the choice of spelling patterns are stated in the new National Curriculum.

The teachers and your children greatly appreciate your support at home helping pupils learn their spellings. We also have useful resources and tips to aid the teaching of spellings at home such as Spellodrome. Please ask if you would like some more ideas.

Homework

Homework will be set on Fridays and is expected in on Wednesdays. It will often follow the themes of grammar or times tables, two fundamental areas. These areas will also be taught in class to support pupils’ understanding of their homework. There will also be longer term homework projects.
English

As a class, at the start of term we read Street Child, a book about a Victorian child who escapes the workhouse. We did lots of great writing based on this book; including: letter writing, diary entries and descriptive writing. During the term we have also looked at persuasive writing and newspaper reports. We will soon be looking at stories from imaginary words and poetry where we will be learning and performing a poem. 

At the start of term 3 we had a visit from M & M productions. The children really enjoyed their show and had fun writing formal ‘thank you’ letters to the cast. During terms 3 and 4 we will also be looking at explanation texts, adverts, dilemma stories and adverts and will have the opportunity to produce lots of great writing based on these. We will also be reading stories from other cultures including traditional African folk tales called and some traditional stories from India.

In term 5 History we will be studying the Ancient Egyptians and we will start off Term 5’s English by doing some cross-curricula writing about Howard Carter and the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb.  Later on in the term, the children will be learning to write and perform poetry. During term 6 we will be learning to write film narratives and bibliographical texts including one about the life of Nelson Mandela.

Maths
We are very excited for the challenging yet fun things the children will be learning. In particular there will be a big focus on times tables (by the end of year 4 children will be expected to know all their tables up to 12x12!). As well as this, we will be introducing new skills such as finding equivalent fractions, decimal equivalents and reflecting patterns with two lines of symmetry. As always we will also be revising previous skills they have learnt at a harder level. Year 4 is a jam packed but exciting year for maths! The use of Mathletics will be encouraged to further enhance the skills learned throughout the year.
Topics

We have been learning all about the Victorians and in particular the lives of children during this era. Having been on Hooke Court camp, we were able to live the life of a Victorian child. As well as this, we have compared Victorian homes, looked how the Industrial Revolution impacted towns and cities and studied the life of Queen Victoria.

This term we will be comparing Wicklea Academy to various schools around the world. Looking at the routines, lessons and equipment in schools in countries such as Australia, Canada, Brazil and Japan. We will produce a fantastic documentary video about our school for other schools to view.

In geography after Christmas,  we will be looking at the topic: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. We will be looking at how waste products can be used again and how we can reduce the amount of waste we produce. As well as that we will be going on a trip to Carymoor landfill site and we will even be making our own paper! In term 4 we will be studying the Ancient Egyptians, specifically looking at hieroglyphics, the mummification process and how the Egyptians believed in an afterlife.

In term 5 Geography, year 4 will be studying rivers, particularly focussing on the River Severn and the River Nile and comparing these.  We will be using Google maps, atlases and the internet to understand more about rivers and their specific location and length. Our history topic will be based on the life of Nelson Mandela. Year 4 will learn about apartheid and the effect Mandela had on this in South Africa.  They will also celebrate Mandela day by helping out other members of staff or children in the school.

Science

Our first science topic was Classification where we learnt different ways to classify plants and animals, understand why things are classified and used classification systems to identify plants and animals. A lot of our lessons were spent outside in the woods and it was a really hands on topic! Electricity was our next topic; we have been creating our own circuits which contain buzzers, motors and bulbs and will be investigating conductors and insulators and how to make a switch. We will linking this with our DT projects of a light decoration with a working circuit.

Our science topic for term 3 is Human Impact on the Environment which links extremely well to the geography topic. The children will looking at the impact humans are having on different mountain ranges and the coral reef and how natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes can have an impact on the environment. We look at Sound in science for term 4 where we learn how we hear sound, investigate how to soundproof and finally we will make our own instruments. 

During term 5 science, year 4 will firstly learn about solids, liquids and gasses. They will be able to define each term and explain differences and similarities between each one. As well as this, they will learn about condensation, evaporation and the water cycle. During the topic Teeth and Digestion, the children will learn the different names of the teeth and their particular purpose, begin to know how our bodies digest food and name the organs that are in this process.
How can I help my child at home?

Listening to your child read at home as often as possible continues to be essential to their progress in the lower KS2.  Children will have a levelled reading book as well as being able to borrow books from the school library. By the end of Year 4 we hope pupils will have read a wide range of texts including newspapers, classic stories and poems. Please continue to practice spellings and all times tables on a weekly basis.